One Thousand Nights and One Day – ART/New York Theatres, New York

Sepideh Moafi and Ben Steinfeld in One Thousand and One Day at the ART/New York Theatres, New York. Picture: Richard Termine

One Thousand Nights and One Day continues at A.R.T./New York Theatres, New York, until 29 April. 

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

As the title suggests, One Thousand Nights and One Day, an impressive if overloaded Off-Broadway musical, has a lot to do with the Arabian Nights. Along with some serious storytelling, it also has accomplished music with occasional Middle Eastern inflections and poetic and sometimes affecting lyrics. Its narrative, though, may be a little too complicated for its own good.

The book is by Jason Grote, who also wrote the lyrics. It does indeed take us back to ancient Persia, and on stage is the story-telling Scheherazade, bride of the obsessed ruler Shahriyar. Stunned by the infidelity of his first wife, whom he had killed, Shahriyar has taken up the rather nasty habit of marrying virgins and then executing them the next morning before they have a chance to dishonour him.

Scheherazade, however, has a strategy to stay alive. She will tell Shahriyar one irresistible story after another but save the endings for the following night. Clever girl.

But rather than tales involving such familiar figures as Aladdin or Ali Baba, the musical focuses on a contemporary romance between an Arab American woman, Dahna, and a Jewish American guy, Alan. They are both students at New York’s Columbia University and become interested in one another after attending a lecture where Dahna raises questions about Israeli policy toward Palestinians. Alan is sympathetic to the Palestinians’ situation.

They eventually move in together, but after an eventful trip to Gaza, Dahna begins to question the relationship. “Is it me you want?” she asks. “Or your idea of me? Am I here to just, like…assuage your guilt?”

These are provocative questions, and a programme note explains that the show intends to examine the “concept of Orientalism…the creation of the Arab ‘other’ in centuries of Western literature, through long traditions of false cultural representations and romanticised images…”

However, the book loses impact as it shifts back and forth from old-time Persia to contemporary New York, finally winding up with a catastrophic terrorist attack on New York, an attack worse than 9/11.

There are also occasional digressions, which tend to be more distracting than pertinent. At one point, the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borge pops up to explain how the Arabian Nights came to be and also spout some deep philosophical thoughts, such as: “The threshold is confused with the mirror; the mask lies beneath the face. And none of it matters.”

Director Erin Ortman, however, manages to get emotional value out of the shifting proceedings, working some precision into the meandering of the story.

Emphatically on the plus side as well is the music by Marisa Michelson. Its modernity is often arresting, with songs that tease with hints of lyric melody set against odd percussive rhythms. Michelson’s vocal arrangements, performed in choral style by the eight-person cast, have a sonic richness as well, fusing with the orchestrations (by Michelson and Kurt Crowley) for the five musicians.

Grote’s lyrics demonstrate an affinity for concrete images that are sometimes disturbing, often quite charming. His lyric describing how Dahna and Alan spend their days of early romance are particularly apt, filled with such lines as: “Weekends buying greeting cards and smelling fancy soaps…drink pitchers of mimosas…”

The cast handles the heavy load that is asked of them with admirable skill and dedication. Sepideh Moafi morphs convincingly from Scheherazade to Dahna, as does Ben Steinfeld going from Shahriyar to Alan. Their attraction to each other as contemporary lovers is particularly compelling, along with the ease with which they handle Michelson’s complex melodies. Moafi’s negotiation of an abundance of Arabic-style melismas is particularly noteworthy.

Among others, Graham Stevens gets comic mileage out of his role as One-Eyed Arab, serving as a sort of narrator, while Yassi Noubahar achieves quite distinct personalities playing sisters to both Scheherazade and Dahna. Ashkon Davaran, Chad Goodridge, Gabriella Pérez and Jen Anaya complete the cast taking on various personas and vocal tasks.

The gesture-heavy choreography by Karla Puno Garcia, performed with dexterity by the entire company, is sometimes affecting. But there are moments when performers, lurking behind semi-transparent scene curtains and engaged in strange movements, look like parodies of overly avant-garde dance.

Production values, including Becky Bodurtha’s costumes, Jason Ardizzone-West’s scenic design and Carolyn Wong’s lighting, all reflect apt use of a presumably limited Off-Broadway budget.

The show is a production of the 20-year-old Prospect Theater Company, whose stated mission is: “fostering and showcasing today’s new voices shaping tomorrows musicals.” Despite – or maybe because of – its over-ambition, One Thousand Nights and One Day is quite worthy of Prospect’s dedication.

Ron Cohen